Kooyenga and Thompson on UpFront 5/8/2017

Kooyenga appeared Sunday on “UPFRONT with Mike Gousha,” produced in partnership with Wispolitics.com.

Kooyenga and Assembly Republicans last week put forth a complex plan to change up gas taxes, sales taxes and income taxes in an effort to boost the transportation fund, and eventually move the state toward a flat tax.

“This is a conversation starter. This isn’t a Kooyenga plan. This is an Assembly GOP plan. And there’s dozens of members who have ideas in this plan,” Kooyenga said.

The plan proposes paring back the minimum mark-up on gasoline, and then applying the state’s sales tax to gasoline sales.

He said he expected that would have the effect of pushing down the price of gas in Wisconsin, while also raising revenue for the transportation fund.

“Do we want to spend money on interest, or do we want to spend money on labor and materials to fix our roads?” Kooyenga said. “I think we want to spend money on labor and materials to fix our roads.”

Kooyenga said other members of his caucus didn’t like every facet of the plan, but he expected there would be discussion to come up with a plan Republican lawmakers could support.

“Generally speaking, does this move us in the right direction for Wisconsin’s economy, which is contingent upon good transportation and a healthy tax code? And the answer is yes,” Kooyenga said.

Also on the program, Craig Thompson, executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin, praised Kooyenga for putting out a plan.

“I think this is the first real effort we’ve seen at addressing revenues long term or longer term. It’s a work in progress, I think. It’s a good starting point. There’s some things in there we don’t love, there’s some things that we like. But we do like the fact that it acknowledges that we have to do something. And I think it’s the first real proposal that’s been put out,” Thompson said.

The Buzz About TDA

More and more we all realize that transportation, in all its different modes, is at the foundation of strong community and economic development. TDA exists to bring diverse transportation interests together so that decisions are made to help Wisconsin continue to be the most attractive state in the nation in which to live and work.